The overall objective of the study is to place into perspective the actual function that the medical record plays in the management of psychiatric patients. Specifically: a) Various agency requirements concerning records have been compared across a variety of settings; b) A questionnaire has been developed to assess attitudes of professionals toward the use of the record and a national sampling will be obtained and analyzed; c) A field study design is under development in which information will be gathered from a variety of settings on: 1) The physical properties of records, their accessibility and availability. 2) The usage of the record in terms of who enters and/or retrieves information from what parts of the record, for what purposes, how often and for how long. 3) The kinds of information used in treatment behaviors to determine the relative role of the medical record.